


Red and Green

by TJ_Writes



Category: One Piece
Genre: Established Relationship, Fluff, Humor, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-16
Updated: 2016-07-16
Packaged: 2018-07-24 08:47:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,420
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7501800
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TJ_Writes/pseuds/TJ_Writes
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>
  <i>Before the Strawhat captain gets really close though, Zoro turns his gaze to lazily consider his approach and it takes less than two seconds for the other to go from bored to suddenly regarding him with suspicion. </i>
</p>
<p>  <i>It's rare but sometimes Luffy doesn't appreciate the fact that his first crewmate reads him that easily.</i></p>
            </blockquote>





	Red and Green

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the seventh [Zolu week](http://zolu-week.tumblr.com/) prompt: Complementary.
> 
> I'm boring and went for the comparison in their 'official' colors and a super unimaginative title.
> 
> Not proofread and blah blah.

The small weird-looking island has been the subject of furious conversation for the better part of an hour when Luffy decides that he will regret it his entire life if he doesn't get to climb the funny looking trees. So what if the island doesn't have a magnetic field at the moment and none of the log poses point to it, and so what if there's some seriously crazy sounds coming from the little jungle. Usopp has a flare-up of _'island allergy'_ and Nami looks like she wants to smack someone when Luffy pulls his _'I'm the captain_ ' -card because the trees look like huge potatoes with curly branches growing out of them and he refuses to miss that.

Decision made - against the wishes of certain crew members - the Strawhats start their usual land trip preparations; bickering about who is going with who, what actually needs to be done and whether or not the island is easy to get lost on and if they should wake Zoro. Luffy tries to contain his excitement until everyone is ready but it gets more and more difficult and eventually the call of adventure is too much so he grabs the railing and rockets himself towards the trees. He can kind of hear Sanji hollering and swearing after him but the wind is in his ears and then he is crashing into a tree. The curling branch _bends_ under him and then springs back with enough force to throw him into the air.

"Wohoooo!" Luffy cackles with glee as he spins towards the next tree. What a great surprise! 

 

 

He spends a good, long while swinging around the island shore and nearly launches himself into the sea more than once. The trees are really springy and it is almost impossible to guess what way the branches are going to bend next so Luffy just doesn't bother and let's the wild ride guide him. He sails over a particularly large crown of funny triangle leaves and then smacks right into a branch that sends him spinning backwards into the next branch that bends, flipping him off in the other direction. For a moment the Strawhat captain doesn't know what is up and what is down and all he can see is leaves, a number of terrified small jungle critters and occasionally his own feet.

The wild ride ends when Luffy lands on his face. He'd probably feel better about finally finding the ground, if it wasn't trying to make really good friends with his teeth.

"Bleh!" His face is full of dirt and plants and there's a ton of the same stuff in his mouth too. Luffy sits up sputtering and coughing and wiping at his face furiously. When he finally sees something else than brown and black again he squints and blinks at his surroundings. Apparently there's a little clearing in the forest and what the future Pirate King was just chewing on was a bunch of really bitter tasting flowers. On closer inspection it seems the entire clearing is just grass and _so many_ flowers.

Curious, Luffy reaches for a bloom he didn't squish during the crash landing. It is kind of big and the petals are bright red and frilly on the edges, and together they look a little like a bowl with a bristly green puff in the middle. Luffy's first thought is _'pretty'_ and the instantly following second one is a resounding mental shout of _'ZORO!'_ and then he has to laugh loud enough to startle a bunch of birds because a flower reminding him of his grumpy swordsman is _hilarious_.

Bringing strange plants onto the ship is something that Chopper or Nami would usually scold him for but Luffy is pretty sure he just swallowed a whole bunch of the bitter plants during his faceplant and since he feels completely normal they can't be all that bad. And he kind of really wants to pick a few and show them to Zoro. Or maybe actually give them to him instead.

The Strawhat captain clambers to his feet and shuffles over to a undisturbed spot for flower picking. He makes sure to chose only the biggest and prettiest blossoms, and to hold them in a bunch (a... bouquet wasn't it?) like he'd seen Makino do years ago.  
Once he's satisfied he flings his free arm out and launches himself into treetops again, but holds the flowers gently to his chest so they don't get ruined.

 

  
He's still looking for the swordsman when he pops out of a thick crown of leaves and scares both Usopp and Chopper senseless, and startles Sanji who is checking out some weird fruit-vegetable-things. Luffy laughs and lands on a branch that sways dangerously.

"Hey guys!"

"Oi, rubber idiot! Get down here and be useful!" Sanji shakes his fist towards the treetop but since he's holding a strange brightly colored fruit he ends up looking mostly silly.

"Eeeh? Okay... But I need to find Zoro first, do you guys know where he is?" Luffy would honestly prefer to continue playing in the trees instead of helping their cook, maybe grab Chopper along for the ride later and laugh loudly at the indignant little squeaks. Sanji would probably be less cranky too if he spent some time bouncing from tree to tree. Luffy is about to suggest it but is interrupted.

"Marimo? He's on the ship on lookout duty so he doesn't get lost like a idiot." Sanji scoffs and tosses a fruit at Usopp who yelps and scrambles to catch it in a large basket.

"Thanks! See ya!" Luffy rockets off immediately so his testy crewmate doesn't get the chance to kick him out of the tree. He's not really sure what direction the ship is in but when he gets above the treetops he should get a good view of most of the island.

 

 

The Sunny is just off to the side, rocking gently on the minimal waves when Luffy lands on the railing. He flails wildly for a few seconds before getting his balance back. The crewmate he's looking for is nowhere to be seen so he decides to try the crow's nest.

One of the flowers looks a little ruffled by all the high-speed travel so he climbs the ropes carefully instead of using any Gomu Gomu moves to get up there. When he finally pokes his head through the floor hatch, Luffy grins brightly and announces his presence with a chipper greeting.

Zoro is sitting on the bench by one of the windows and barely moves when his captain hops up through the hatch. Instead of snoring he's actually awake for once, lazily looking out over the sea with a incredibly bored expression on his face. Luffy trots over to the swordsman, hands behind his back and biting his lip to not grin too widely or break into giggles - he doesn't want his crewmate to suspect anything.

Before the Strawhat captain gets really close though, Zoro turns his gaze to lazily consider his approach and it takes less than two seconds for the other to go from bored to suddenly regarding him with suspicion.

It's rare but sometimes Luffy doesn't appreciate the fact that his first crewmate reads him that easily.

"You throw something gross at me and I will throw you overboard." Without a single trace of humour in his voice, the swordsman pins his captain with a stern look; him having only one eye hasn't made those looks any less effective. Luffy has been on the receiving end of that look plenty of times before and he's also felt the repercussions of not taking it seriously. Under that scrutiny the Strawhat captain pouts and shuffles his feet a little.

"Mean! I wanted to bring you something." He protests, pulling himself into a less slumped over pose to more effectively chide Zoro for his totally unnecessary distrust. He doesn't pause to consider that the suspicion actually might be completely valid.

Zoro just looks unimpressed and turns his gaze back to the window and the clear skies. Luffy pouts a little while longer but then the excitement about the surprise takes over and he skips the two final steps over to his first crewmate.

"Look! They made me think of you!" He finally gets to pull the blossoms from behind his back and present them - along with a huge smile - to the swordsman.

He was expecting some type of reaction from Zoro but it seems like the other has completely lost all his capability to emote for a moment and the one-eyed stare he gets is totally empty.

"You... what...?" Senses seem to slowly return to the older pirate, even if it is mostly confusion and some kind of nearly blank apprehension. Luffy doesn't really get it but he refuses to be discouraged by the lukewarm reaction, or the lack of reaction to be honest.

"I brought you flowers. They have this puff in the middle - it is soft and green like your hair!" The Strawhat captain slides onto the bench, facing his still confused and quiet crewmate. He holds out the great big bunch of flowers, inviting the other to take a closer look at the curious, pretty things. Zoro stares at them incredulously for a long, quiet moment before lifting his gaze to his smiling captain.

"Luffy. I'm a _man_. You don't... bring men flowers." Zoro says slowly, a hesitant frown pinching his brow. Luffy blinks at his swordsman, not really understanding what he's being told right then. Back when he was a little kid he'd often follow Makino around when she went on errands around the village. She'd sometimes stop to pick wild blossoms, or even buy big colorful ones that she would keep in her home. He'd once asked her about the flowers, and she'd told him about the many things they were good for, how many ways they were used as gifts or shows of respect. How they were something you could give to a person very important to you.

The Strawhat Captain is well known for his bullheaded nature and it surfaces rapidly once he's considered the point and decided that it makes no sense and that he simply refuses to accept it because it is _dumb_.

"Why not? Flowers are pretty, and Zoro is pretty too." Luffy huffs. He picked his swordsman flowers and he isn't going to be discouraged by some nonsense.

Another silence follows but this one Luffy is surprisingly okay with because he can entertain himself by following the red hue that is slowly inching its way across Zoro's face. The swordsman opens his mouth as if to say something, but then snaps his jaws shut again. His stare goes from Luffy, to the flowers, to back up to Luffy again. The furious blush picks up speed and climbs up to the green hairline. Luffy's thoughts are completely derailed.

"Ah! Now you're almost as red as the flowers too!" He blurts, awed and excited over the sudden change in reaction.

"Shut up." Zoro hisses on a exhale that whistles out from between his clenched teeth.

"Now you totally have to take them!" The young and overjoyed captain completely disregards the protests when he shoves the flowers at his squirming crewmate, grinning widely. He's honestly quite excited about this; he's seen the other blush before but not this intensely. For all his gruff and sometimes stoic demeanor the swordsman is honestly kind of awkward and even goofy at times. There's a slight possibility that he's going to feel really awkward about this but Luffy hopes that it'll pass.

"I- Ugh... Fine." Zoro finally chokes out. Without making eye contact with his captain or looking down, he accepts the flowers being held out to him. The movement is stiff and clunky and the older man looks terribly lost holding a bunch of flowers that he pointedly refuses to look at. It is kind of hilarious to be honest, and Luffy holds back a snicker by pulling his lower lip between his teeth, grinning around it instead. He is rewarded with a one-eyed glare that has its effectiveness more than a little dampened by the massive blush that now has reached as far as the tips of the other pirate's ears.

Luffy decides to push his luck a bit since the swordsman seems to have regained his ability to look cranky.

"Aww... don't I even get a thanks?" He whines playfully, cocking his head slightly and wiggling in his seat.

Zoro freezes completely at that and stares incredulously at his captain. Apparently he needs a bit more nudging so Luffy puts some more effort into the show with one of those pouts that he's used to pull a few changes of attitude out of his first crewmember before.

"...thanks?" Zoro is speaking through a tense bite again, his shoulders stiff and blush persisting. He looks confused, hesitant and unsure of what to do. The longer Luffy keeps it up, the more the swordsman looks like he's about to either burst into flames or just completely crack and Luffy decides that it might be better to ease off before he overwhelms the other. But then the front of his shirt is suddenly crushed by a furious grip.

"Oh for... come here." The flowers are safely held to the side as the flustered swordsman pulls his captain in for a great, deep kiss that makes Luffy's _toes curl_ in his shabby sandals. He has no power or say in the kiss as Zoro just snogs him senseless, and Luffy is now absolutely sure that all the blushing and grumbling isn't about his swordsman feeling awkward; it is actually all about Zoro being adorably flustered instead. The Strawhat captain gets a little carried away when they part to breathe, because he's now kind of interested in a second kiss, but the swordsman gently nudges his face away with his still blush-warm forehead.

"Go help curlybrow before he takes his shitty temper out on Usopp." Zoro's voice is rumbly and soft, but not the kind of tone that invites a playful protest, so Luffy just heaves a huge sigh and resigns himself to doing boring pack mule work on the island. His frown is instantly soothed out by a gentle kiss being pressed to his forehead.

 

 

Even though the Strawhat captain ends up helping his crew for the rest of their stay on the island, his opinion on the whole thing can be summed up easily; _totally worth it!_

**Author's Note:**

> I got the idea for this when I ran across [ this lovely little comment chain](http://soukupsoukup.tumblr.com/post/144509573023/dollypopup-foresterboy-deadxsushi) on tumblr.
> 
> Bonus cookies for anyone who notices the most simple Luffy-hint in the description of the flowers.


End file.
